Afable’s entries titled “Biodiversity” and “Web of Life” won the First and Second Place awards, respectively.
“Biodiversity” is pop/contemporary and it talks about how some things on earth should never ever change, “Cause it messes with the chain.” While “Web of Life” is reggae which expresses how everything in life is interconnected – how worms churn the earth for plants to grow and how a grain of rice can feed a mouse.
“When we read Jason’s lyrics, we liked it,” Carol Emaurois, Head of Environmental Education at PICRC, said in an interview. “We liked his vision of biodiversity, how everything is interconnected with each other, that if you do something bad to one thing, it will lead to another bad thing.”
Afable, who teaches at Aimeliik Elementary School, performed his winning entry during the Independence Day celebration on Friday.
According to Emaurois there were only five people who participated in the contest. “They had to write a song that must capture the theme ‘Biodiversity is life, Biodiversity is our life.’”
The third place award went to Ami Sato and Kalau Nagata for their entry “De Bel Belau.” Sato is a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer who works at Palaris, while Nagata is her 10-year old host sister.
In May this year, President Johnson Toribiong proclaimed 2010 as the Palau Year of Biodiversity and designated PICRC as the national representative for all activities relating to the International Year of Biodiversity.
As part of its efforts to promote understanding of the vital role that biodiversity plays, PICRC, together with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Bureau of Arts and Culture, organized the contest.
“The recording quality and vocal ability were not criteria for this contest,” Emaurois explained. “It was not about the quality of the voice but the message of the lyrics.”
The first place winner received $500. Second and third placer winners got $200 and $100 cash prizes, respectively.
